


Idol Behavior

by rhxfics



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Idols, Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, Comedy, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-05-05 21:15:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14627175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhxfics/pseuds/rhxfics
Summary: After high school Marinette moved to Taiwan and became a member of popular girl group, Miracle Girls. What happens when Adrien goes to Taiwan for business?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> To alleviate confusion I will be referring to Marinette as Marinette but the other members by their Chinese names.
> 
> Marinette - Cheng Mei Ling - Mari  
> Wang Hui Xian - Vivi (Vivian)  
> Xi Yi Fei - Erin

“Today’s musical guest is someone very special! They’re super popular right now!” The male host announced.

“Who is it?” The female host asked with staged excitement.

“Let me give you a hint by singing one of their songs,” he replied. “Miraculous, simply the best, up to the test when things go wrong~”

“I love that song!” The female host clapped. “Everyone welcome, Miracle Girls!”

The camera switched focus to three girls entering the stage, bowing as they walked toward the hosts. The girl in front was the tallest and she had long hair, bleached blonde. She wore a simple light blue blouse with the front tucked into black leather pants. Black boots completed the look. The girl in the middle wore her hair in a short bob. She had on a white crop top with the Offwhite logo, light purple shorts, black thigh highs, and burgundy loafers. The last girl was the shortest of the three. She wore her hair in low pigtails and had on a black t-shirt partially tucked into a red and black plaid skirt. She also had on a pair of white platform sneakers. The three girls stood together and chanted, “1, 2, 3! Once in a lifetime, we are Miracle Girls!”

The hosts and the audience clapped. “Why don’t you all introduce yourselves.”

The girl on the far left spoke first. “Hello everyone, I am the charming leader Erin!” She made a peace sign by her face and winked. The audience cheered and in the distance one guy loudly shouted “step on me Xi Yi Fei!”

The next girl took the microphone from her and spoke, “Hello everyone, I am the lovely main vocalist Vivi!” She blew a kiss to the crowd and was welcomed with another cheer from the audience. The camera switched views to the audience holding up posters reading “We love you Wang Hui Xian”.

The last girl was handed the mic. “Hello everyone, I am the youngest of Miracle Girls Mari!” Up close one could see that her eyes were a bright blue unlike the other girls who had dark brown eyes. She puffed her cheeks out and asked the audience, “am I cute?” Cheers erupted as she winked and poked her puffed out cheek. The camera switched again to the audience holding up banners that ranged in languages from an LED sign reading “I love you Cheng Mei Ling” to a handmade banner that read “Marinette Dupain-Cheng fighting”.

 

**

 

Adrien was startled by a tap on his shoulder. He paused his video and looked up at the flight attendant. He removed one of his headphones to listen to her.

“Sir, we are descending. Please put away all electronic devices,” she said in Chinese accented English. He nodded and she walked away. He removed his headphones and put tablet away in his bag. He turned to look out the window as the plane descended.

 

**

 

“We’re going to be on a show with Adrien Agreste?” Marinette asked mid chew of her strawberry.

“Yep,” Miracle Girls manager, Wu Yue Ting, nodded. She read off her tablet. “You three and French model and CEO Adrien Agreste will be guest stars on episode 586 of Happy Camp.”

“Ooooohhhh, Marinette’s celebrity crush is here~” Hui Xian teased. Marinette’s face turned red.

“He is not my celebrity crush,” she muttered through her teeth. She turned back to her manager. “Is he really going to be with us for Happy Camp?”

“Yes,” Yue Ting curtly replied. Marinette groaned. Internally she was screaming because son of her favorite designer, Adrien Agreste, was currently in the same country as her at the moment. “Is there an issue?”

It wasn’t necessarily an issue, opposite of one to be exact. “I knew him in high school back in Paris,” she explained. She also had the biggest crush on him that she never got over, even when she moved to Taiwan. 

Yi Fei nearly tackled her out of her seat. “You KNEW him in high school?!” She demanded.

“Y-yeah,” Marinette tried to play off coolly.

“How did that NEVER come up?” Yi Fei exasperated. “With the posters, the online stalking, even when you said in an interview you liked him-“

“I didn’t say I liked him.”

“Wang Ren Bo literally asked if you had any celebrity crushes and immediately you said Adrien Agreste.”

“Let’s back off the denial for a second,” Hui Xian butted in. “This new information doesn’t really change anything. She knew him, so what? They either get along and catch up, or he doesn’t remember you exist.” Hui Xian’s words made Marinette wince.

“I was friends with him back in lycee,” Marinette explained.

“See it’s just old friends catching up-“

“I also had a huge crush on him.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let’s pretend that I didn’t steal TWICE’s intro, that I have actually watched more than one episode of Happy Camp, and that Happy Camp is filmed in Taiwan instead of Hunan. Also let’s pretend I know how to write too.

Adrien and his interpreter entered his dressing room for the set of Happy Camp. He had just finished a photo shoot for the Elle China magazine cover and headed straight to the show recording. Nathalie had informed him of his schedule in China way before he boarded the plane. He not only had to negotiate contracts and promote the Agreste fashion band, but he was also required to participate in Chinese media. 

Today he would participate in the Chinese variety show along with the rising Taiwanese pop idol group Miracle Girls. He made sure to watch some of their videos to get a brief idea what their music was like and what to expect from them. It was interesting seeing his old classmate, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, as an idol. He would have to be blind to not find her cute, and they were friends back in high school, but she always seemed nervous around him. When she left to live with her relatives in Taiwan after high school, he never really heard much of her.

He heard commotion outside of his dressing room. The show staff had informed the day before that they would be filming backstage. His makeup was already done at a previous photo shoot so he didn’t need to worry about being presentable.

A knock sounded at his door. “Come in,” his interpreter shouted. The door opened and the Miracle Girls walked in along with a camera crew. Already started filming.

“1, 2, 3! Once in a lifetime, we are Miracle Girls!” The girls happily chanted.

“We wanted to introduce ourselves and give you a copy of our newest album,” the girl he recognized as Erin said. His interpreter translated, but he already knew what she was saying. He was already fluent in Mandarin, he just had an interpreter to help negotiate business.

“Xie xie,” he replied as he took the album. It was cute. He made eye contact with Marinette and said in French, “Glad to see you’re doing well, Marinette.”

Slightly shocked at his sudden French, his old classmate responded in French, “I-it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

The camera crew flipped.

“Since when did you speak French?”

“What did he say?”

“What did you say?”

“We went to high school together back in Paris,” Adrien explained. His interpreter translated.

“You know him?” One of the camera crew insisted. Marinette blushed.

“Y-yeah,” she answered meekly, clearly wanting to avoid this conversation. “I thought you knew Mandarin,” she said to him in Mandarin. His interpreter and everyone else in the room gave him a questioning look.

“I do,” he responded in French. His interpreter glared. “I just use one for negotiating complicated business deals and interviews. Can’t have someone thinking I’m rude because I can’t speak formally,” he shrugged off.

“I see.” Marinette realized she was alienating her other members. “Oh, let me introduce you to the other members. This is-“

“Vivi,” Adrien interrupted her. “Erin” he looked at the other girl.

“Do you speak English?” Hui Xian asked in English. She had an American accent for whatever reason.

“Yes,” he replied in English.

“We’re finding out all sorts of things about the girls today,” one of the camera staff muttered.

 

**

 

The five hosts of Happy Camp and Miracle Girls stood before the audience.

He Jiong announced, “In addition to the Miracle Girls we would like to welcome, all the way from Paris, model and CEO Adrien Agreste.” The audience politely clapped as Adrien strutted across the stage, his interpreter following behind.

“Hello everyone, my name is Adrien,” he introduced himself in Chinese. He remembered to bow and stepped back.

“Welcome!” Xie Na cheerfully said. Adrien smiled back.

“So we heard about what happened backstage today,” Du Haitao started, “You know Mandarin, Mari knows French, and Vivi knows English? Anyone care to explain?”

Hui Xian picked up the microphone. “I grew up in America before moving here, but Mari went to the same high school as Adrien.”

The hosts faces turned to shock. “Mari, is that true?”

Marinette nervously nodded yes and picked up the mic. “My dad is French and I lived in Paris for 8 years.”

“Erin, are you hiding any secret language skills?” He Jiong teased. Yi Fei giggled.

“No. Just Chinese. Does the Fujian dialect count?” A collective laugh erupted from the audience.

“Okay, now that we have so many bilingual people here, we have to hear them speak the language. Mari, you should speak French with Adrien.”

Marinette awkwardly looked to Adrien for validation. “I don’t really know what to talk about,” she said in French.

“Me neither,” he said, “lovely weather we’re having today, isn’t that right Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

Catching his sarcasm she continued, “I’d say so Adrien Agreste. It simply is dashing.” 

Adrien’s interpreter was half judging him, half giggling at the interaction.

“Okay, Vivi, say something in English,” Xie Na said.

Hui Xian turned to Adrien and asked in English, “Mind being my partner?”

“Sure,” he said, switching flawlessly from French to English. “What is your name?”

“My name is Hui Xian, or Vivian,” she said. “But I go by Vivi.”

“Erin, your turn,” the host urged.

“I don’t think anyone can speak the Fujian dialect here,” Yi Fei said in Mandarin. “Hello everyone I’m Xi Yi Fei, or Erin, from Miracle Girls. Please support us! Fighting!” She said in the Fujian dialect.

“Everyone, a round of applause for these talented ladies!” The hosts and the audience clapped. The three girls bowed and also clapped.

“So Adrien, our staff told us you actually know Chinese,” Li Weijia finally spoke. “Why do you have an interpreter?”

Adrien laughed light heartedly and spoke in French. “I said this to Marinette before, but it’s because while I’m fluent I still have issues with interviews and business negotiations. I don’t want to accidentally be rude because my Chinese isn’t good enough.” His interpreter actually did his job.

“Well that brings us to our first task today which is to make you say a couple of Chinese tongue twisters,” Weijia explained. The projector showed a simple tongue twister in both Chinese and pinyin. “Can you say that for us?”

“Four is four, ten is ten, fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty,” Adrien diligently read with decent pronunciation.

The audience clapped. A collective “wow” came from the hosts.

“Oh come on, that’s too easy for him!” Marinette exclaimed. Adrien directed his attention toward his old classmate. In French she said, “your Chinese used to be better than mine back in high school. This is too easy for you!”

His interpreter translated what Marinette said. Since when was Marinette so sassy?

“If that’s the case we need to up the difficulty level. This is the phrase we had prepared for all of you.” Another sentence appeared on the screen.

If you know say you know, if you don’t know say you don’t know, don’t say you know when you don’t know, and don’t not know and say you know, do you know?

It was oddly fitting for the situation.

 

**

 

The rest of the filming for Happy Camp was uneventful yet enjoyable. He got to play charades (he and Hui Xian got paired together and won Chinese KFC), saw Marinette and Yi Fei share a kiss (they were playing the pocky/peppery game and misheard the instructions), and jumped through actual hoops (Marinette was surprisingly nimble). It was a fun experience overall and unfortunately for him, everything else was going to be dull afterward.

Adrien was about to leave when he passed by the Miracle Girls dressing room. He knocked and was welcomed to them sitting around taking selfies with their manager.

“Marinette.” Said girl looked up from her phone. Adrien pulled out his wallet and fished around for his business card. Putting the wallet away, he found a pen on a the table in front of him and wrote down his personal cell phone number. He handed the card to Marinette. “Give me a call sometime while I’m still in Taiwan. I’d love to catch up. I’m free tomorrow if you are.”

Marinette took the card from him and whispered something into her managers ear. She finally responded, “I should be free to show you around. Do you have WeChat?”  
He downloaded the app, made an account (“what kind of username is ChatNoir?”) and took pictures with both her and the other Miracle Girls. Their manager uploaded their group photos to the Miracle Girls official Instagram page, tagging him in the caption. He made sure to follow them on Instagram and posted a selfie of him and Marinette with the caption “Nice to run into old friends.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The hosts of Happy Camp, according to Wikipedia, are He Jiong, Li Weijia, Xie Na, Du Haitao, and Wu Xin. I’ve only watched one episode back when EXO-M was still a thing and highly enjoyed it. Im not too familiar with Chinese shows so you’re gonna see me steal a bunch of Korean shows in this story. You’re also gonna deal with me having everything be filmed in Taiwan rather than all over because logic.
> 
> Also in case anyone is interested in Chinese tongue twisters: http://blog.tutorming.com/mandarin-chinese-learning-tips/chinese-tongue-twisters


	3. Chapter 3

Marinette was staring blankly at her phone, internally freaking out.

“You should text him sometime today,” Hui Xian shouted from the bathroom. “You’ve been staring at your phone for 30 minutes.” Marinette grabbed her pillow and made an incomprehensible groaning noise. 

Yi Fei entered the room with a bowl of strawberries. She placed it on Marinette’s bed and Marinette gratefully took a strawberry and bit into it. The sweet flavor flooded her mouth in an indescribable way. The last time they had a proper meal was after the Happy Camp filming at noon and it was already 10 pm. Interviews and performances and photo shoots and more interviews filled their day leaving the girls exhausted. It was a miracle in itself that they were relaxing at 10 pm. It was even more miraculous that Marinette’s schedule for tomorrow had been cleared to hang out with Adrien (thank you Manager Yue Ting).

Marinette had typed in Adrien’s WeChat username and almost typed in a message when a WhatsApp call interrupted her.

“Alya?” she asked out loud. She answered the phone and was greeted with unintelligible screaming. “Whats up?”

Alya Cesaire was Marinette’s best friend from Paris and the only one she kept in touch with after moving to Taiwan. Their bond was still strong despite the distance, time difference, Marinette’s busy schedule, and Alya’s inability to respond to messages. Alya’s bad habits had cost her jobs sometimes judging from the 1000+ unread emails Marinette saw on Alya’s phone. It was a miracle for them to meet up however rarely Marinette was in Paris. It was even more of a miracle when Alya visited her in Taiwan a year ago and met the other members. Alya always made sure to spam articles and pictures of Adrien, knowing full well it doesn’t help her get over her crush on him.

“I just saw Adriens Instagram post. How could you keep this from me, Marinette?!” Her friend practically screamed. She was so loud the other members could hear her despite not being on speaker.

“Is that your loud friend?” Hui Xian called from the bathroom. “Tell her I said hi.”

“Okay!” Marinette replied as she lowered her phones volume. Switching to French she said, “I literally found out yesterday. Did you not see the SOS messages I sent you through WhatsApp?”

“Oh I rarely use WhatApp,” Alya admitted. Typical Alya. “But this new development with Adrien, what’s up with that?”

“A new development means that something happened. He was a guest for a variety show Miracle Girls participated in.” She put another strawberry in her mouth. “We talked a bit and he gave me his contact info.”

“Oh so you finally have his contact info after all the times I offered it to you,” Alya joked. “Real funny. Sure puts a damper on our friendship.”

“You’re the one who didn’t see my WhatsApp messages!” Marinette jokingly retorted. “But if you insist I’m going to see him tomorrow on my day off.” Her phone buzzed. “How’s life treating you, Alya?”

They caught up on miscellaneous things. Marinette found out Mylene and Ivan were going to get married soon, Alya had just gotten promoted for her job with the local newspaper, Nino and her were moving in together soon, and Adrien was in China for business (which she obviously knew). Alya heard all the details of the recording session with Adrien (“I called him out for knowing Chinese in front of his interpreter and the whole staff. I feel so bad, Alya!”) and was pleasantly surprised to hear her friend wasn’t a nervous, bumbling mess in front of her old crush (“I didn’t just train in singing and dancing. Public professionalism was drilled into me!” To which Alya painfully reminded her “zoonimoos”).

After an hour and a half of catching up, Alya had to hang up. Marinette finally checked who had texted her earlier. A black cat waving emoji from username ChatNoir showed up in her WeChat messages. Adrien.

She hurriedly typed back a reply.

Xiaopiaochong: sorry for the late response. I was talking to Alya  
ChatNoir: no problem. You still talk to Alya?  
Xiaopiaochong: yeah  
Xiaopiaochong: we talk from time to time. Time difference and busy schedule  
Xiaopiaochong: especially now that we’re promoting our new album  
ChatNoir: oh yeah I listened to it on the plane ride over

Marinette blushed at the fact that Adrien listened to her music. She loved her music but she also understood that not everyone was a fan of the cutesy concept Miracle Girls was famous for. They’ve been slowly transitioning to a more mature theme, or at least a girl crush concept.

ChatNoir: watched all the music videos too. Definitely a fan. Especially the bug costumes

Adrien was referring to their debut music video where she and the other girls dressed up in bug costumes. It was supposed to be an out-of-the-box music video concept, but ended up looking super cheesy. Marinette’s glad they had moved on from that.

Xiaopiaochong: oh god  
Xiaopiaochong: no  
Xiaopiaochong: stop plz  
Xiaopiaochong: that was a dark time in all of our lives  
Xiaopiaochong: please forget you saw me like that  
Xiaopiaochong: I’m ruined!!!!  
Xiaopiaochong: *ladybug crying emoji*  
ChatNoir: hahaha  
ChatNoir: so when and where do you want to meet up tomorrow  
Xiaopiaochong: meet me at the miraculous entertainment at lunch time? I’ll send you the address.  
ChatNoir: sounds good. Is 11 okay with you?  
Xiaopiaochong: that sounds perfect


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow I totally haven’t updated for a while. Here’s a long chapter. Also I don’t know idol culture or how to write.

Normally on a rare day off Marinette would sleep in as much as possible, especially during album promotions like now. However with looming anticipation to actually hang out with Adrien, she could barely sleep. She made sure to wake up early enough to pick an outfit, get ready, and mentally prepare herself to see Adrien.

“Excited for your date?” Yi Fei teased her as she fixed her makeup. Marinette puffed her cheeks indignantly as she applied foundation to cover up her freckles.

“It’s not a date, Yi Fei jie!” ‘Though I want it to be,’ she thought to herself.

“Just messing with you, mei mei.” Yi Fei licked her finger and removed some stray eyeliner from the corner of her eye. “Be careful of pictures when you go out. Don’t want any nasty rumors.”

“I know.” 

Miraculous Entertainment had a rule in their contract for all celebrities that they couldn’t date during training or five years after public debut. It was honestly lenient compared to most companies, but Miracle Girls were only three years old and the members were still under extreme scrutiny despite all the money they made for the company. One time Hui Xian “glanced” at a member of a popular boy group after they first became popular and the internet blew up. Marinette was surprised she was allowed to go out with Adrien as a friend. She half dreaded seeing what her fans would say about the Happy Camp episode.

Marinette finished her makeup and picked something simple yet cute to wear. She slipped on a horizontal, black and white striped T-shirt and pulled on a short form fitting mini skirt. For her shoes she put on a pair of comfortable, black, slip on sneakers with a small cat face on the heel. She pulled her hair into a top bun and slipped on a pair of sunglasses to hide her face.

She looked at her phone and saw it was 10:50 already. Rushing, she slung her favorite pink purse over her shoulder and walked a couple of blocks over to the Miraculous Entertainment building.

Right in front of the building was Adrien Agreste already waiting for her. He was wearing a simple black button up and black slacks. How he managed to effortlessly make something simple look high fashion was beyond Marinette’s three years of idol training. To his credit, he was a model and had a lifetime of being in the public eye.

He recognized her, despite the giant sunglasses, and waved. Marinette headed over to him and nearly had a heart attack when he tried to French greet her.

“Waitdontdothat!” She scrambled, stopping him from leaning in for a kiss. He was confused before realizing that he was a much more conservative country than France.

“Sorry about that,” he apologized and looked away shyly. “I forgot about where I was for a second. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you.”

“I saw you yesterday,” she said. Immediately she realized how rude that sounded. “I mean-“

“I know, but I haven’t seen you as a friend in six years,” he said sheepishly. Her heart warmed at how much of a cinnamon bun he was being right now. This is why she never got over him.

“I would hug you, but I’m afraid the internet would explode,” she said without thinking again. Adrien laughed.

“I know that feeling,” he sympathized. “So where first?” Marinette’s stomach growled (as it would). “Lunch? Any suggestions little ladybug?”

“I have a couple.”

 

 

Marinette and Adrien ended up at one of the night markets.... in the mid afternoon. The smells of durian, stinky tofu, and fried chicken assaulted their nostrils, but were all part of the enjoyment. They were thankfully not approached by Marinette’s fans as of yet, but Marinette could’ve sworn she saw a couple of teenage girls with their phones suspiciously held at their faces.

Adrien tapped at her shoulder and pointed to a stall that had an array of Chinese hotdogs. Black, sweet, Chinese sausage wrapped in glutinous sticky rice on a stick; it was everything Marinette’s manager would’ve glared at her for eating, but man it looked delicious.

“That looks good,” Adrien remarked. ‘It really does.’

“Do you want one?” she asked him. He nodded yes. “I don’t think I can finish one by myself. Do you mind sharing?” He nodded again.

They walked over to the stall where the elderly woman waved at them with a smile. “Hello~” she greeted in English at Adrien. She turned to Marinette and asked in  
Chinese, “what can I get for you two?”

A light bulb went off in her head. “My friend’s trying to practice his Chinese, so I think he should order,” she said with a slight smirk. She looked up at him innocently and expectantly.

Adrien ended up ordering and paying for the food.

 

 

“Ahh I’m so full~” Marinette sighed while patting her stomach.

“I still can’t believe you made me order,” Adrien chewed as he finished off the last of his hotdog. He threw the empty skewer into the nearest trash bin.

“Says the guy fluent in Mandarin,” Marinette teased. “I can understand scary businessmen, but there were no consequences with the ayi.”

“I guess you’re right,” Adrien said nervously. “I’m so used to only speaking with my tutors I get a bit self conscious of my Chinese.”

“I understand that feeling. I didn’t speak Mandarin much in France because I was too nervous,” she admitted and looked up reflectively. “It wasn’t until I came here that I really started getting the hang of it.”

“Well, Miss Idol, why did you come here?” Adrien inquired. Everyone knew Marinette had moved to Taiwan to live with her aunt after high school, but no one really knew why.

“I didn’t really know what to do when I graduated high school,” Marinette admitted. And it was true. She didn’t particularly have a strong passion for anything at the time. She had interests but nothing she wanted to dedicate her life to. “I also wanted to explore myself for a bit and my mom offered me to live with her sister in Taiwan, so I left.

“The idol thing was more of a chance. I was with my aunt and someone approached us asking me to audition for Miraculous Entertainment. I had no clue what to do, but my aunt said to try some of my diabolo tricks. Practiced for a weekend and showed up at the audition. Then I trained for three years and here I am now with Miracle Girls.”

She turned her gaze back toward Adrien and briefly reflected over how easy it was to talk to him now compared to her high school days, especially since he looked so good. He stood at a full 6’2” and his chest filled out in the best way possible. Looking at his face closely were beautiful, kind green eyes that looked slightly tired and acne scars on his jawline. It was nice to see he was human too, especially after her idolizing him for so long.

“Wow you got street casted,” Adrien dumbly stated. Marinette giggled. Her laugh sounded wonderful for some reason.

“You’re not wrong?” Marinette said. She directed him to a bench so they could sit and talk rather than walk aimlessly.

“How is the idol life?”

“Wouldn’t you of all people know?” Marinette teased.

“I was born into it,” Adrien started, as if the question triggered a potential rant. Marinette winced when she saw his expression. “I didn’t get street casted and I didn’t audition for anything. I want to know what you think of it.”

She sighed. “It’s okay. I have my issues with certain things, but Hui Xian and Yi Fei are great emotional support and I talk to Alya when she checks her WhatsApp. So I guess it’s little weird, but I love it all the same.” Her eyes widened in realization at something. “Ugh my lunch is gonna get me fat!”

“You are definitely not fat.”

“Yeah but I have a diet because of promotions.... oh wait you’re a literal supermodel.” Adrien snickered. 

“In your defense I’ve been doing more business since I graduated. Less need to lose weight.” He slung his arm behind her shoulder on the bench and crossed his legs.

“Well Mr. Model, what did you do post graduation?” Marinette asked coyly, mocking him.

“I told my father I wanted to study physics, and we got into a huge argument until we agreed that I would double major along with business,” Adrien explained, “and then I realized there’s not much out there for jobs in quantum theory, the part of physics I’m interested in, without pursuing a doctorate and business is a lot easier than I expected, so here I am in China.”

“Taiwan,” Marinette corrected. “I’ve listen to Yi Fei rant about that multiple times, just trust me on this. I’ll admit, I never saw you as a physics person.”

“Most don’t.” Adrien laughed.

“I know, but it makes me feel bad since I knew you but I never really knew you.” The air turned serious.

“You never really talked to me. We had mutual friends, but minus that gaming tournament we never talked much.”

“I know and I regret it,” Marinette made a face, “especially since it’s so easy to talk to you now.”

“What made it so hard before?”

Marinette turned away and watched a couple holding hands from afar. “I had the biggest crush on you back in Francis DuPont.”

‘WHY DID I JUST ADMIT THAT?’ Her mind screamed.

“I think because I idolized you so much it made it difficult to talk to you.” Marinette rambled. Adrien stared at her. “But I guess since I'm in that position to be idolized it makes it easier to talk to you…. because I get it now.” 

A long, awkward silence passed.

“Marinette,” he started.

‘Oh god he hates me,’ she panicked.

“Are you telling me that Nino and Alya we’re right about you liking me back?” he continued. Marinette's jaw dropped.

“Liking you-“ her face was turning a bright shade of red.

“Did my awkward, socially incompetent, weeaboo, scrawny teenage self manage to attract the most attractive girl at school?”

“Attractive? You’re the model!” Marinette sputtered, too shocked to take in Adriens words.

“Through nepotism and makeup. You got street casted, you can’t say you’re not attractive,” Adrien argued.

“I stole your phone! And had your schedule memorized like a creeper!”

“I was a trash weeaboo! The only reason I know Chinese was because my dad wouldn’t let me take Japanese!”

“I like anime!”

“I know! That’s what made you more attractive!”

After a couple more minutes of back and forth not-really-arguing, the two of them calmed down. Adrien’s phone rang.

“Hello?...Nathalie, you know it’s my day off, right…. I’m with my friend….yes I have a friend in Taiwan….no it’s not an internet friend…..fine I’ll be there, pick me up at Miraculous Entertainment.” Beep. “Hey I have to go. Nathalie thought it’d be a great idea to schedule a photo shoot in on my day off.” They both stood up to head back to Miraculous. “This has been an enlightening afternoon.”

“No kidding,” Marinette muttered. They walked back in a calm silence.

They stopped at the crosswalk when someone tapped Marinette's shoulder. She turned around and saw a young face. Most likely a fan.

“Xiao Mei Ling, I saw you two earlier this morning. Do you mind if I ask what is the relationship between you and Adrien?” She asked politely, also using Adrien’s official Chinese name.

“We’re old friends,” Adrien answered her. The girl was not expecting him to speak Chinese.

“You didn’t want to order food, but you’re speaking perfectly fine to my fan,” Marinette sassed him in Chinese so the girl could understand. “Thank you for asking so politely. He’s one of my friends from France.”

“Can I get a picture with you two?” The fan asked.

“Sure!” Marinette took the girls phone and took a quick selfie with her and Adrien as the crosswalk turned green. They handed the phone back and waved goodbye as they crossed the street.

Adrien’s ride was already in front of Miraculous Entertainment. 

“It was nice seeing you, Marinette.”

“You too.”

“I don't think I’ll have much free time while I’m in Taiwan, but I’ll let you know if I do.”

“Can I message you even when you’re-”

Adrien took her into a bear hug, cutting Marinette off. “Of course.” Too shocked to even care about her reputation, Marinette hugged him back. They let go and went their separate ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taiwan isn’t China though it technically is. Kind of a national identity thing that’s too political for fan fiction.
> 
> Taiwanese hot dog: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/309481805619117412/


End file.
